Arts & Culture

05/05/15 Arts & Culture

Degrees of Deception? Or just a half truth?

Degrees of Deception? Or just a half truth?

By Meeta Chatterjee Padmanabhan

Once again, international students in Australia became the punching bag of the media in Degrees of Deception, featured in Four Corners on the 20th of April, 2015. The program claimed that its investigation “has unearthed alarming new evidence of a decline in academic standards at institutions around the country” Continue reading

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02/05/15 Arts & Culture , Australia , Diaspora & Travel , Society & Politics # , , , , , , , , , ,

The Dancer’s Diamonds: A review of Raghav Handa’s Tukre’

The Dancer’s Diamonds: A review of Raghav Handa’s Tukre’

By Roanna Gonsalves

 

There was once a little boy who watched his grandfather at work in India, as he cut diamonds by hand in his workshop. The boy watched as his grandfather looked intently at the diamond in his fingers, then turning to look at him, again and again. That little boy was Raghav Handa. The memory of the movement of his grandfather’s hands and head as he shifted attention from the diamond in hand to the face of his grandson, became the heart of Tukre’, a contemporary dance show choreographed and performed by Handa, now on at Riverside, Sydney, Australia.
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28/04/15 Arts & Culture , Society & Politics # , , ,

Vaani Rani

Vaani Rani

By The Drama Queen.

Since December 2014, I have been following Vaani Rani, and Thamarai, two South Indian Tamil dramas from Radaan Media.  Let’s face it, for a 600-episode series, Vaani Rani is rather, for the lack of a better word, lame.  This may be the style of a Tamil serial. This could also very well be what the locals enjoy. But for someone who lives in Sydney, who understands Tamil, and wants to improve on my Tamil language skills, I find this a little too rudimentary.  Of course, you could say “stop watching and do what other Australians do”. But I would be lying if I didn’t say how much I enjoy hearing a familiar language played over YouTube.  Let’s just say, it’s my link to South India.  What would I like to see?  Something more substantial, something that we could all relate to, simply because I know that there are more intelligent and creative story writers in Tamil Nadu.

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27/04/15 Arts & Culture

How you can help the earthquake relief effort in Nepal and India

This weekend brought news of the terrible devastation caused by the earthquake in Nepal and India. We at Southern Crossings send our condolences and support to the individuals and families affected by this tragedy in South Asia.

Below is a list of links to aid organisations supporting the relief effort. Please note: Southern Crossings does not receive funding from any of the organisations listed below. This list is not exhaustive and has not been vetted by us. Please use your discretion when making donations.
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21/04/15 Arts & Culture , Australia , Diaspora & Travel , Society & Politics # , , , , , , ,

Are We Legit?

Are We Legit?

By Roanna Gonsalves

One rainy Mumbai day, sitting in an Udipi restaurant, chai cup in hand, I told a dear friend I would soon leave for Australia.

“I’ll never leave India and be a second class citizen in another country”, my friend said. My chai turned colder and a crinkly skin formed on its surface.

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18/04/15 Arts & Culture , Australia

Cultural Informant

Cultural Informant

By Sukhmani Khorana

You expected me
And of me
To know and to explain
Or perhaps to reinforce what you knew. Continue reading

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18/04/15 Arts & Culture

Handling admission anxieties and other lessons from ‘Ramadhanu’

Handling admission anxieties and other lessons from ‘Ramadhanu’

By Meeta Chatterjee Padmanabhan

As a teacher who has spent more than three and a half decades in schools and universities, I get really excited when popular films take on an aspect of education as its central theme. When Indian films do this, despite their various shortcomings (and the song and dance) I begin to gain faith in films as tools of mass instruction. For example, Aamir Khan’s treatment of dyslexia in Tare Zameen Par was a heart rending exploration of the topic that brought this misunderstood learning disorder to public attention in the most affirming way. Continue reading

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